6 oil PSUs including ONGC, Indian Oil, HP, and Bharat Petroleum likely to lose invest-grade rating: Moody's

Moody’s Investors Service today warned that six of India's oil and gas companies, owned by the government directly or indirectly, are at risk of losing their investment-grade status.

The rating on these companies--Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd, Oil India Ltd, Indian Oil Corp Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, and Petronet LNG-- was downgraded to Baa3 along with a cut in India's rating on Jun 1.

Baa3 is the lowest investment-grade rating.

These six companies have become "potential fallen angels" or companies at risk of losing their investment-grade ratings due to lower earnings and cash flow amid the global coronavirus shock, Moody's said.

Following this, the number of "potential fallen angels" in Asia, barring Japan and Australia, has climbed to 21 from eight at the end of 2019, it said.

The number of companies at risk of losing their investment-grade ratings by Moody's is at an all-time high. The global rating agency said that 21 Asian companies have around $3.3 bln of rated bond maturities through 2021, of which six India government-linked oil and gas companies account for around $1 bln.